Raj civic polls: BJP ahead but Cong makes gains

In a neck-and-neck electoral race, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party won 1,443 out of the total of 3,351 wards while opposition parties including Congress and Independents won 1,908 wards in the Rajasthan civic body polls, results for which were announced on Thursday.

The 129 civic bodies in the state had gone to polls on August 17.

In the final tally of results, out of 3,351 wards in the civic bodies including the Ajmer Municipal Corporation, the BJP won 1,443 wards, the Congress 1,164, Independents 703, the Nationalist Congress Party 19, Bahujan Samaj Party 16, Communist Party of India 5 and Communist Party-Marxist one ward, according a Rajasthan State Election Commission spokesman in Jaipur.

The BJP suffered a setback in Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's pocket-borough of Dholpur and Jhalawar where it was defeated in the civic polls, though the party emerged ahead in around 60 municipal bodies out of 129 in Rajasthan.

Congress, which was routed in the Lok Sabha elections last year, has made significant gains attaining or nearing majority in around 40 bodies and was neck and neck with the BJP in 17 bodies. In seven civic bodies, Independents were holding sway.

While the BJP won 1,416 wards of the 3,300 whose results were declared so far, the Congress bagged 1,146 wards.

The Congress won majority in two civic bodies in Jhalawar district represented by Chief Minister Raje in assembly and her son Dushyant Singh in Lok Sabha, while the BJP won three.

In Dholpur, the Congress secured majority in all three civic bodies of Badi, Dholpur and Rajakhera. Raje belongs to the erstwhile royal family of Dholpur.

The BJP also lost majority in Baran district's two civic bodies which falls in Parliamentary constituency of Dushyant Singh.

Calling the results as a "vote of no confidence" against the BJP Government in Rajasthan, Congress state unit President Sachin Pilot said the vote difference between the BJP and the Congress has reduced to 1 per cent from 26 per cent in the Lok Sabha elections in 2014.

“Congress won in the home turf of chief minister who is facing corruption charges. Voters have understood and are looking at Congress with hope,” Pilot said at a press conference in Jaipur.